MP hints at more Town Centre housing

Eastleigh’s MP has revealed a brown field site ‘in the centre of Eastleigh’ – currently owned by Network Rail could be re-developed for housing.

In a press release Mims Davies describes a recent meeting she had with roads minister Jesse Norman in which she presented the case for a Chickenhall Lane link road but during the meeting she says officials also set out why bidding for funding to support the proposed road had so far ‘been unsuccessful’. One of the reasons given highlighted that land in the centre of Eastleigh – owned by Network Rail – could potentially be used for housing.

Mims Davies commented:

I was particularly surprised during my meeting with the Minister to be informed that a brownfield site in the centre of Eastleigh has been provisionally set-aside for development while investigations are carried out by Network Rail.

The MP added that the council had taken a decision not to include this site on the forthcoming local plan, even provisionally, until ‘investigations’ had been completed and was proceeding instead, with options B and C despite the opposition of neighbouring local councils and MPs and some local residents.

Mims Davies told the minister that although Eastleigh was thriving, traffic queues and delays were affecting businesses and residents and that she thinks that cash that has not been allocated to road projects in other areas could be put towards large infrastructure projects – such as the Chickenhall Link Road.

Davies vows she will continue to press the government for more money to improve Eastleigh’s roads.

I am looking forward to meeting with the Minister again in the not too distant future, alongside local parliamentary colleagues, representatives from Highways England and officials from the Department for Transport to take a view of the need for local infrastructure, and the impact that this has on productivity.